1- Contemporary Issues in Educational Measurement & Assessment.
2- ISBN: 978-9933-532-17-8
3- Author: Mohamed Ziad Hamdan
4- Publisher: Modern Education House- Damascus (2017)
5- Language: Arabic.
ABSTRACT
Constructive assessment does not mean itself by screening and sorting students into successful and unsuccessful students as it usually appears in our school education. On the other hand, it aims primarily to distinguish individual differences among them in order to care for these individual differences, and to respond thoughtfully to their various growth requirements, without merely classifying them into high, medium and weak categories, and then dealing with them personally – not educationally – in what can be called “academic racism”.
It should not be understood that distinguishing between differences through evaluation and then providing them fairly through equal opportunities in school education does not mean settling or eliminating these differences between students, so that the weak and the capable among them are equal, because this in itself is a violation of “God’s creation” in the differences between humans, and a direct injustice to the humanity and capabilities of the students themselves.
We must provide for each student through evaluation and educational outcomes according to his ability, and help him build his individual social and professional role according to his personal hopes, without psychologically abusing the weak to achieve the same as his superior peer, or slowing down the latter to keep up with those who are inferior to him.
School education is a fair human and social process that generally aims to develop the individual who is good for himself and his society, regardless of course the identity of this individual, his competence, or his class! Evaluation in this way does not differentiate the capabilities of the young individuals to racially distinguish them academically, but rather to rationalize their learning, and direct all the educational factors and processes involved in their production according to what they are able and desire.
Scientific assessment in school education means more than screening, and its goals go beyond sorting students into successful and unsuccessful, and its applications vary from loose essay tests in their formulas, implementation and outcomes. In contrast to all of these, it is constructive and purposeful for students and society by rationalizing their upbringing and directing their learning and growth always for the better.
The book covers the following topics:
1- General concepts and practices that are better corrected in tests and educational assessment
2- General problems of educational assessment with proposed solutions
3- Cheating in tests and doing homework
4- Students’ performance of learning tests
5- Students’ anxiety in tests
6- Evaluating the suitability of research for publication in Arab academic environments